Newsroom
Get the story behind the places, faces, and current events shaping the downtownATL district.
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David Cummings — who sold Pardot to Salesforce for $95 million and built Atlanta Tech Village into a 300-member startup hub — sits down with the AJC to discuss his vision for transforming 53 buildings across 10 blocks of South Downtown.
Atlanta coffee shop Spiller Park has opened its fourth location at 233 Mitchell Street in Historic Hotel Row, preserving the building's original tiled floors and wall castings while offering espresso, seasonal drinks, and sidewalk seating in South Downtown.
Tech investors Jon Birdsong and David Cummings envision transforming South Downtown into "Startup City," with a new co-working space hosting 50 entrepreneurs and plans to convert the 115-year-old Sylvan Hotel into a formal incubator, while new restaurants like Tyde Tate Kitchen and Spiller Park have already opened.
Jon Birdsong and David Cummings, the entrepreneurs behind Atlanta Ventures, acquired 53 historic buildings and acres of parking lots across 10 blocks of South Downtown with a bold vision: transform the area once known as "Hotel Row" back into the entrepreneurial capital of the Southeast.
The $5 billion Centennial Yards development revealed plans for an eight-acre sports and entertainment district across from Mercedes-Benz Stadium — including a fan plaza for the 2026 World Cup, a 233-room hotel, and 480,000 square feet of dining and entertainment.
Congresswoman Nikema Williams announced $207.6 million in federal funding for two of Atlanta's most ambitious infrastructure projects: $157.6 million for Phase 1 of the Stitch and $50 million to connect the BeltLine to the Flint River Trail.
With Atlanta hosting eight World Cup matches in 2026, business and civic leaders are pushing to accelerate office-to-residential conversions, MARTA station upgrades, and new tech hubs before the global spotlight arrives — a moment leaders call a "generational opportunity."
Central Atlanta Progress rallied regional business leaders to strengthen support for downtown as it recovers from COVID and prepares for the 2026 World Cup, announcing a partnership with the Metro Atlanta Chamber to deliver a list of projects needed before the global event.
Forty shipping containers on a former parking lot at 184 Forsyth Street became The Melody — downtown Atlanta's first rapid housing development, built in four months for $5 million and named for a woman who died on the city's streets.
Eight galleries, a relocated music venue, a sculptor's studio, and a growing community of artists are transforming Underground Atlanta from a shuttered retail complex into a grassroots creative hub in the center of downtown.
AJC business reporters preview the stories that will define Georgia's economy in 2024 — from interest rate impacts on Atlanta's glut of vacant office space, to housing affordability, to the tech ecosystem's continued momentum following big exits in 2023.
An investment group led by David Cummings and Jon Birdsong is acquiring Newport's South Downtown portfolio — 10 blocks of historic buildings and parking lots — to prevent foreclosure and build an entrepreneurial hub targeting 2026 World Cup milestones.
A $2.9 million trail project will create a three-quarter-mile pedestrian and bicycle connection between the Upper Westside and the BeltLine's Westside Connector — feeding directly into the network that reaches downtown Atlanta.
More than 500 current and former CNN employees gathered at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta to celebrate the network's 43rd anniversary. Founder Ted Turner sent a letter declaring the network's story is far from over.
The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta announced a $48 million expansion in 2022 — adding two new wings, a 10,000 square-foot education space, and a permanent home for the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.
